Cycling injury: woman seriously injured but wire trap for cyclists in park could have decapitated victim

A mother of three who narrowly escaped decapitation after riding into a thin metal wire that had been strung across a path popular with cyclists had been named by police.

Kate Henery, 38, was scarred for life when she was thrown from the saddle as she cycled through a park with her seven-year-old son Fergus. The wire left a 5in gash across her forehead and under her left eyebrow, missing her eye by a fraction of an inch. Police believe that if the wire had been a few inches lower it could have killed her.

Mrs Henery said yesterday: “I couldn’t see the wire at all and I just rode straight into it. There was blood everywhere. It was only after five or ten minutes that I noticed the wire that was strung across from the tree. I’m lucky because it could have been so much worse. If I had been up on the pedals it would have cut my throat.”

The incident happened as Mrs Henery and her youngest son cycled home from a music festival through St Mark’s recreation ground in Swindon, Wiltshire, at 8.30pm last Thursday. She was taken to the Great Western Hospital in the town where she received 20 stitches in the wound. Mrs Henery, who is now recovering at home, said: “I just can’t believe anyone would do this.”

Detective Inspector Mark Garrett, of Swindon CID, agreed she could have been killed. “Suspending a wire like this across a path is obviously going to result in someone getting seriously injured,” he said. The innocent victim could have lost her sight and the wire could have resulted in a fatality.”

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